Hammer Girl and Power Ranger Join Cast of 'Milly & Mamet'
Jakarta. Ernest Prakasa’s "Milly & Mamet," an upcoming spin-off from Riri Riza’s "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" franchise, will now have action stars Julie Estelle and Yoshi Sudarso playing key supporting roles. The news was announced in a press conference at Casadina Kitchen in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Monday (27/08).
The film will star Sissy Prescillia as Milly and Dennis Adishwara as Mamet, the same actors who played the characters in the original Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (AADC) in 2002 and its sequel Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 in 2016.
In the spin-off, Milly and Mamet are a newly married couple. It will be another romance movie, but more "down to earth," according to Dennis.
Early this month, a photo of the back of a woman's head was posted on the film’s official Instagram account. The caption said the woman would be a key character in the movie.
The woman in the photo was Julie, best known as the merciless Hammer Girl in Gareth Evans' action movie "The Raid 2" and as Ladya in Timo Tjahjanto’s slasher flick "Rumah Dara" ("Macabre").
In Milly & Mamet, Julie will play Alex, an old friend of Mamet who suddenly shows up when he's torn between pursuing his dream to become a chef and working for more money at a company owned by Milly's father.
Director Ernest said this will be Julie’s first ever part in a comedy.
"She's a lot of fun, actually. Good match for the happy-go-lucky character Alex," Ernest said.
Julie, who was handpicked for the role, said she's enjoying her preparation for the movie – set to start filming on Sept. 2.
"I’m not a comedian so it's going to be a challenge. But I'll have Ernest to ask for advice. In any case, Alex’s comedy scenes are more sitcom-like," Julie said.
Yoshi Sudarso is best known as the blue ranger in "Power Rangers Dino Charge" and the green ranger in "Power Rangers HyperForce."
Scriptwriter Meira Anastasia, who is also Ernest's wife, said she and her husband were impressed by Yoshi's performance in "Buffalo Boys," released last month.
Meira and Ernest said Yoshi was the perfect fit to play James, Alex’s boyfriend, a strong and silent type.
"His character in 'Buffalo Boys' was very serious, but [in rehearsals] Yoshi never held back during the comedy scenes. He's got so much energy, it's like he’s always on a sugar rush," Ernest said.
Yoshi said, "Just like Julie, I’ve never played in a comedy. [Rehearsals were] fun, we did actually laugh every day."
The toughest challenge for Yoshi is actually mastering the Indonesian language.
Even though he was born to an Indonesian family, Yoshi has been living in the United States since he was nine years old.
He only started relearning Indonesian when preparing for Buffalo Boys.
Ernest said he told Yoshi to record a video of him speaking some lines from Milly & Mamet and found that his Indonesian was good enough.
Yoshi said he would speak "100 percent Indonesian" in the film.
Julie and Yoshi will be joined by more big names in the Indonesian film industry, including Surya Saputra ("Arisan," "Gie") as Milly’s ex-boyfriend and legendary actor Roy Marten as her father.
Female stand-up comedians Arafah Rianti and Aci Resti, who starred in Ernest’s previous films, will play Milly’s maid and a factory worker.
It was also confirmed at the press conference that Milly will reunite with the rest of her original AADC gang in the spin-off. Dian Sastrowardoyo, Adinia Wirasti and Titi Kamal will reprise their roles as Cinta, Karmen and Maura.
The film will also feature singers Melly Goeslaw, Eva Celia and Isyana Sarasvati in acting roles. This will be Isyana’s debut on the big screen.
EDM disc jockey and Sissy’s brother Jevin Julian will also star in the movie.
Milly & Mamet is expected to be released just in time for Christmas, just like Ernest’s previous movies "Ngenest," "Cek Toko Sebelah" ("Check Out the Shop Next Door") and "Susah Sinyal" ("Bad Reception").
"Ernest’s movies are perfect holiday movies for the family. They tick off all the criteria for a comedy drama," producer Chand Parwez Servia said.
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